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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had openly asserted to have never been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's funds to avert a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded respect when he appeared in a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain king was pressured further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the account.

Presently the stripping of titles and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the removal of designations was what the king, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short communication showed clearly that the institution were supporting the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.